Continuous gas dehumidification process



R. D. DREW March 20, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 23, 1952 a J a W T m A( .m mm M M m M W M 1 a J 7 M M W a. a I... H 4 4W W a l 1 2 M M N I" 1 1} 1{1||| f\ill 01 1 y M 111. m 3 H 7 2 1 u 1 .1- i 1 m \0 1 2 M W r| W 1 m a 11 1. 8 1 1 F. f R s w 0 l m n S u n A b a m L United States Patent .o

CONTINUOUS GAS I LEHUMIDIFICATION PROCESS Robert D. Drew, Wenonah, N. .L, assignor to Socony Mobil Oil Company, Inc., a corporation of New York Application October 23, 1952, Serial No. 316,456

1 Claim. (Cl. 183-1141) This invention relates to a method for removing moisture from a gasiform stream continuously by means of a granular solid desiccant. In a more specific aspect it deals with the operation of'such a gas dehumidification process so as to avoid the necessity of providing for external means for cooling of the desiccant before it is supplied to the gas drying zone or while in the drying zone. This invention is particularly applicable to the drying of gaseous petroleum fractions such as natural gas.

Suitable desiccants for use in this process include bauxite, activated alumina and inorganic oxide gels comprised predominantly of silica or in some instances alumina, and having a high capacity to adsorb moisture over a wide range of relative humidities. The desiccant should be of palpable particulate form as distinguished from finely divided powder, and should generally be within the size.

range 2 to 100 mesh and preferably 4 to 8 mesh by Tyler standard screen analysis. The term granular is used herein in describing and claiming this invention to include any desiccant of palpable particulate form, like those of the above sizes. The desiccant may take the shape of pellets, tablets, spheres, capsules, and the like, or it may be of irregular shape, such as is obtained from grinding and screening operations.

The usual continuous gas dehydration process employing a granular desiccant, cycles the desiccant continuously between a drying zone and. revivification zone. In the drying zone the desiccant is maintained as a downwardly gravitating, substantially compact bed at a temperature suitable for the desired degree of dehumidification. Wet gas charge is passed upwardly through the bed to effect removal of moisture by adsorption and condensation on the desiccant. The moisture-laden desiccant is then passed to the revivification zone where it is heated to a temperature at which the moisture it bears will vaporize and the moisture is stripped from it. The hot, dried desiccant is then cooled by use of an externally supplied coolant to a suitable dehumidification temperature and then returned to the drying zone. This cooling step is disadvantageous because the refrigeration required results in considerable added expense to the process costs. Also, the cooler itself is expensive and its use add to the height of the dehumidification unit and, therefore, adds to construction costs.

An object of this invention is to provide a. continuous} efiicient, economical process for dehumidifying or dehy 60 drating gas streams.

This and other objects of this invention will be apparent from the following discussion of the invention.

Before proceeding with this discussion certain terms used in describing and claiming this invention will be derate of the stream in weight per unit time, such as pounds- Patented Mar. 20, 1956 per hour, and the specific heat of the material in heat per unit weight per unit temperature rise, such as British thermal units per pound per F. Thus, the specific heat capacity will have the units, heat per unit time per unit temperature, which in the English system would be British thermal units per hour per F. The term dry gas, and

like terms, when applied to the gas product of the dehumidification process, are used herein merely to denote a gas which has been dehumidified to the desired extent and are not used in the limited sense as referring only to a gas completely devoid of moisture. I v

In the process of this invention, the hot, dried desic cant from the revivification zone is supplied directly to the upper end of a bed of desiccant in the drying zone.

Wet gas is supplied to the lower section of this bed and passed upwardly therethrough to be dehumidified. at a' rate, relative to the rate of supply of hot desiccant to the drying zone, sufiiciently high to efiect a substantial amount of the required cooling of the desiccant from the revivification temperature to a temperature suitable for remov-- ing moisture from the gas within about 2 to 12 inches of the upper surface of the desiccant bed, so that beneath this distance of the upper surface the desiccant bed will be adsorbing moisture from the gas stream.

Thisinvention will be best understood by reference to the attached drawings, of which Figure 1 is an elevational view, illustrating the application of one form of this invention to the dehydration of petroleum natural gas,

form which this invention may take, and v Figure 3 is an elevational view, showing the application of a third form of this invention to the dehydration of petroleum natural gas.

All of these drawings are highly diagrammatic in form and like parts in all bear like numerals.

In discussing these drawings, reference will be made to specific pressures and temperatures at various points Figure ,2 is an elevational view, illustrating a second in the system. These values are given only to aid in the understanding of the invention and the drawings, and it is not intended to in any way limit the invention by these specific values.

Turning to Figure 1, there is shown therein a drier 10 and revivifier 11 thereabove. Conduit 12 extends from the bottom of revivifier 11 into the top of drier 10. Conduit 13 extends from the bottom of drier 10 into a lift tank 14. Lift pipe 15 extends from an intermediate level in tank 14 vertically upwardly to an intermediate level within separator 16 positioned on a vertical level above the upper end of revivifier 11. Conduit 17 extends downwardly from separator 16 into the upper end of vessel 11.

In one operation of this system, wet petroleum natural gas is supplied to the process through passage 18. Typically, this gas might be at 900 pounds per square inch gauge and 96 F. The wet gas charge is split into three portions. A major portion of the charge passesupwardly directly into the lower section of the drying zonewithin drier 10 through conduit 19. Before being supplied to the drying zone, however, the pressure of the gas in passage 19 is reduced to a level below that maintained in drier is controlled by operations in the revivifier as explained hereinbelow. A downwardly gravitating, substan-- tially compact bed of granular desiccant is maintainedwithin drying zone 10 and the wet gas passes upwardly: therethrough to effect dehumidification of'the gas byadsorption and condensation of the moisture from the wet gas on the desiccant in the bed. Dry gas is removed from theupper section of drying zone through oonduit 22 at a pressure of about 384 pounds per square inch gauge and at about 100 F. Moisturerladendesiccantis removed from the lower section of drying zone. lo and gravitated through passage 13 into lift tank 1 4.- A.minor portion of the wet'gascharge passes throughconduit fi into the lower end of lift tank. 14. Therate oii supply of wet gas to tank 14 is controlled by valve 26 inresponse to fl ow ratecontroller 27 to obtain theprcper des ccant circulationratethrough the cyclic system. Theipr essure in tank 14' will be about 888 pounds per square iuoh gauge. In, tank ld moisture-laden desiccant issuspended iri the gas fronii passage23 and the suspension then passed ,up through lift pipe into. separator 1.6. In the separator the "granular desiccant drops out of the lift gas and is gravitated downwardly into the upper section ofg the revivif ication zone 11 through passagejli. Lift gas is removed from the upper end ,of separator. 16 through passage 2;} at alpressure of about 886 p ounds per square iuch The,moi sture-laden desiccant passes downwardly through revivification zone 11 as a substantiallycompact column. A second ,minor. stream of .wet gas chargeds passed from cond uit,18 through passagezfi atarate controlled by valve fit) in response to flow rate controller gal Thiswet gas. stream isfpassed through a heater Slut/herein the gas is heated to a temperature sufficient to furnishghe heatrequi red to. vaporize the moisture on the desicoa nt inrevivif er 11,- for example, ab out 360 F. There. will be about a 5 pounds per square inch pressure drop across the heater sothat the revivification gas will be supplied to the desiccant bed in revivifier 11 at about 895 pounds persquare inch gauge and about 360 F, Theheated gas passesupwardly through the desiccant andheatsfit to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the moisture thereon ,and strip it from the desiccant. Moisture-laden revivification gas is removed from the upper section of revivifier llthrough'passage 33 at a pressureof about 893 pounds per square inch and a temperature of about 270,F. This moisture-laden'gas is passed downwardly into heat exchanger 34 wherein, by indirect heat exchange withthe dry gas from drier 1%, its temperature is reduced to about 120 F., thereby condensing most of the moisture picked .up in the revivification zone. The teniperatureof the dryvgas is raised thereby to about 107 F. and t he'pressure reduced to about 879 pounds per-square inclrby pa ssagethrough the exchanger before removal from the system. The vrevivification gas is thenpassed through scrubber 35 whe r ein the condensed moisture is removed fromjhegas and discarded from the system through passage 36. The revivification gas, which is still at least as wet as the charge gas, is removed fr om- ,th e scrubber through passage 37. The lift gas is combined with the reyivification gas and both pass into the lower section of drier 10. The pressure of entryto the drier will be about 886 pounds per square inch gauge and the temperature about 110 F. The hot, dry desiccant pa5es downwardly from the lower section of the-revivification zone into the upper section of the dryingzoneto supply the bed therein through seal leg 12 of restricted crosssection, The rate of desiccant circulation through the system and the rate of wet gas charge to drier 10 are both controlled, so that the ratio of the specific heat capacity of the wetgas charge to the drier, including lift gas and revivification gas to thespecific heat capacitydof the desiccant supplied is at least about 1.01, and preferably at least 1.10, so that the desiccant will be cooled to a temperature suitable to effect dehumidificationof the. wet

gas Within the upper 12 inches of the bed and preferably withinthe upper 2 inches thereof. Thus, under the conditions'given above with desiccant entering .the drier. at about 360 F., the temperature of the desiccant shouldbe reduced to at least 100 F. within the upper 2, inches of the bed. Of course, the wet gas must be supplied to the drier at a temperature below the desired drying temperature. Generally, the wet gas should be supplied at a temperature 3 F., and preferably 10 F. therebelow. The temperatures at which most gas streams are available for drying will normally meet this requirement. By this system the use of external cooling to remove the heat requiredtorevivit'y the desiccant is avoided. ,Also, the heat of adsorption of moisture. on the desiccant is removed by the gas stream flowing through the drier. Since therelative rates of the desiccant and wet gas streams are adjusted so that the coolingris accomplished in relatively few inches of the bed, there is little height added to theses by the cooling requirements.

It will be notedin the process shown in Figure 1 that the gas passes between the various zones without the use of intermediate compressors or blowers. This is accomplished ,bymaintaining therevivifierata pressure above the,drier and adiustin'g' pressures throughout the system toobtain thejpropcr flow at each point. Thus, in fiigure 1, thefgas is suppliedto therevivifier at a pressure asclose a s'poss ibleto the pressureof wet gas charge through pipe .18 .consistentwiththenecessity of passing thegasthrou'gh heater 32., vThejp ressure of the effluent gas from the revivifier alfterncoolin'g and scrubbing wil l,,of course,b e fixed once the pressure in the revivifier is fixed, Pressure reduction ,valve lfl is then set to provide the pressure in passage beyond valve 20 at about the same value as thatinjconduit 37. The admission of gas to the lift tank ldissco ntrolled by valve 26 at a rate which willprovide the desireddegree of desiccant circulation and thus, necessarily, therat eof gas admission to tank 14 is such that .the pressurein line 28 is about the same as the pressure iuiconduit 3 7, Thus, all three strearns of .wet gas will enter drier ltl and flow upwardly therethrough without usegofacompressor. Of course, valve 38pm the dry gas outlet line is set for an outlet pressure low enough to causethis flow. The dry gas produced by the process will beat a lowerpressure than the wet gas charge, but. for most applications, such as natural gas drying, this will not matter. This process for adjusting the pressures at the various, points ,in the system to avoid recompression of the gas is the subject of claim in U. S. patent application 316,455, filed October 23, 1952. v Y

An;altern ative method of operating the. process of Figureiis to by-pass heater 32 in line 29 by means of by:-pa ss 39 The heat required to vaporize the moisture on the desiccant would then be supplied by circulating a suitable heatinggfiuid through heatingcoils 40 in revivitin zone. Utilizing. this. system, under the assumed cpnd't' ns ofwet gas charge at 9(l0 pounds per-square inc 1 au'ge andi96 F., a portion of the wet [gas would be supplied t othe lower sectionof revivifierlat about the amepressureand temperatureasthe wet gas .is'supe ens-eastw oP ri he s??? s sses dafteucoolingand scrubbing wouldbepassed into il.-1 W.. 9 9 sg uare inch gauge and 1205. F. The .portion of,, the wet 19 would first be reduced in pressure tol about pounds r sus qi l ibs 3 31882 s unds PF su s. sl lsktfi and 100 F., and after passage through the heat egrchanger the, process Gas would bermoved from the of the drier at about. 891 pounds per gas charge passed directly to the ldrier flthrough lpa ssage pensguar e inch gauge. The dry gasiatithe toplofthe 3.4 'W9Uld be at 884 pounds per square inch ga'ug'e and Turning to Figure 2, there is shown therein revivifier 11 positioned above drier with granular desiccant transported from the bottom of the drier to the topof the revivifier by means of conduits 13 and 17 and lift pipe 15, as described in connection with Figure 1. Wet natural gas, for example, at 900 pounds per square inch gauge and 96 F., is supplied to the system'through conduit 18. A major portion of this gas is passed directly to the lower section of the drier 10 through passage 50, so that the pressure and temperature there will be the same as the wet gas charge. The wet gas is dried in the same manner as described in connection with Figure l. The dry gas is removed from the upper section ofv drier 10 at a pressure of about 898 pounds per square inch gauge and at a temperature of about 100 F. through passage 51. Most of this gas is removed from the process through passage 52 as product. Some of this dry gas, however, is passed through conduit 53 at a rate controlled by valve 54. This gas passes through heater 55 wherein the temperature of the gas is elevated to a level suflicient to strip moisture from the moisture-laden desiccant in the revivifier 11, for example, 360 F. At this temperature and at a pressure of about 892 pounds per square inch gauge, this gas is supplied to the revivifier through passage 56 as revivification gas to strip moisture from the desiccant therein. the upper section of revivifier 11 through passage 57 at a pressure of about 890 poundsper square inch .gauge and a temperature of 270 F. Under one mode of operation, this gas is compressed to about 907 pounds per square inch by means of a compressor 58 and then passed through cooler 59 wherein the temperature of the gas is reduced to about 120 F. and water condensed therefrom. The cooled gas is passed to separator 60 where water settles out of the gas and is removed from the system through passage 61. The gas is then removed from the upper section of separator 60 at a pressure of about 900 pounds per square inch gauge and at 120 F. and passed through conduits 62 and 50 into the lower section of drier 10. Alternatively, the compressor 58 may be by-passed through conduit 63 and the revivification gas removed from the system through passage 64, rather than being returned to drier 10. This gas may be blended with the dry gas from passage 52 if the resultant mixture is within the desired moisture limitations. In this system, also, a separate revivification gas may be used rather than using a portion of the dry gas. This gas may be admitted through passage 65. In the process of Figure 2, as in the process of Figure l, the relative wet gas and desiccant charge rates to drier 10 are adjusted to make the ratio of the specific heat capacity of the gas stream to the specific heat capacity of the desiccant charge stream at least about 1.01, and preferably at least about 1.10, thereby effecting cooling of the desiccant from the revivification zone to a temperature suitable for drying the wet gas to the desired extent within the upper 12 inches of the desiccant bed in the drier. This would be a cooling from about 360 F. to about 100 F. under the conditions assumed in this description. A portion of the wet gas charge is used as a lift gas in the process of Figure 2 in much the same manner as it was in the process of Figure 1. The eflluent lift gas from separator 16 which exits through conduit 66 may be blended back with dry gas from the drier if tolerable moisture limits are not exceeded, or it may be passed back to the drier with efliluent gas from the revivifier. To accomplish this latter, the lift gas should be supplied to conduit 57 on the intake side of compressor 58 at a pressure about equal to that in the upper section of the revivifier.

Figure 3 illustrates another form of the process of this invention. In Figure 3, the drier 10 is above the revivifier 11. In one operation the wet natural gas at 900 pounds per square inch gauge and 96 F. is sup- Moisture-laden gas is removed from plied at 18 and split into three portions. A major portion flows directly-into" drier 10'through passage 70, so

that the pressure and temperature in the bottom of the; drier will be about the same as the pressure and temperature at which the wet gas enters the system. The wet gas passes upwardly through the compact bed of desiccant rate controlled by valve 72. This gas is elevated .in"

pressure to a level at which gas will flow from revivifier to drier without further compression, for example, about i 914 pounds per square inch gauge by compressor 73. When Wet charge gas is used as revivification gas valve 74 in line '75 is kept closed. The revivification gas is then passed through heater 76' wherein its temperature is elevated to a level suitable for revivifying the desiccant,

for example, about 360 F., and the heated gas, now at a pressure of about 909. pounds per square inch gauge, is passed into the lower section of the revivifier 11. The revivification gas passes upwardly through the desiccant in the revivifier and strips the moisture therefrom. The

'moisture-laden revivification gaspat 907 pounds per square inch gauge and 270 F., is removed through passage 7'7 and moisturecondensed by condenser 78. Moisture is separated from the gas in separator 79 and the gas now at 900 pounds per square inch gauge and 120 F. passed through conduit 80 into conduit 70 and then into the lower end of drier 10. Hot, dried desiccant at about 360 F. passes from revivifier 11 through passage 13 into lift tank 14. A third portion of wet gas charge passes through conduit 81 at a rate controlled by valve 82 and enters lift tank 14 at 900 pounds per square inch gauge and 96 F. This gas transports the hot desiccant upwardly through lift pipe 15 to separator 16. During the transportation heatexchange occurs'between gas and desiccant so that some cooling of the desiccant occurs. The desiccant is not cooled completely to a temperature suitable for drying the wet gas, however. Under the conditions assumed here, the desiccant might be cooled to about l25l50 F. The desiccant then gravitates into drier 10 through passage 17 and thecooling completed in the upper section of the bed by adjusting the wet gas and desiccant flow rates as previously described. The lift gas is removed from the system through passage 83 at about 898 pounds per square inch gauge and l25-l50 F. Alternatively, the lift gas may also be used as revivification gas by opening valves 84 and 74 in line 75 and closing valve 85 in line 71. This may only be done, of course, when the quantity of lift gas and the quantity of revivification gas required are about the same. The lift gas from separator 16 passes from conduit 83 into passage 75 and is compressed by compressor 86 to the required pressure, for example 914 pounds per square inch gauge. The gas then passes into passage 71 to be used in the manner previously described. The relative rates of desiccant and Wet gassupply to the drier are controlled, sothat the desiccant is cooled to a tempera ture suitable for the desired degree of adsorption within the upper 12 inches of the bed. in the process of Figure 3, the desiccant is not cooled completely from its revivification temperature to a suitable drying temperature in the upper end of the desiccant bed in the drier, but rather only part 'of the cooling occurs at this point with the remainder occurring in the gas lift. However, a substantial portion of the cooling is still effected in the upper 12 inches, and preferably 2 inches of the desiccant bed.

As previously stated, in all forms of this invention the desiccant circulation rate is adjusted so low relative It will be noted that v tothe w ts hat era 'e. t he. d t -.th .ttl e1t9 heat capacity of the -,de ic.an 1 3i, srl flhfi l I q per unit time; to lower or. r s the temper e of the desiccant streampuedegreejn temperaturais substantially less ,than the specific heat capacity of the wet gas stream, Thus, the temperature ,at which the wet gas is supplied to the ,drier controls the temperature of the desiccantbed. in the drier., The ratio of the specific heat capacityof the wet gas strearn charged to the drier to the specific heatcapacity of the desiccant stream supplied .to the drier should be at least about 1.01, and preferably atleastabout 149 11 wetgas should be chargedto the, drier at a, temperature 3 E, and prefer ablyr10 below the desired average temperature of thedesiccant bed.

, The temperatureto ich the desiccant must be cooled to provide for efiicientlmoi stureremoval and the average temperature of rhecesiccan lbe i t e drier w vary widelywith the parti oular gas charge, H the particular desiccant and the. degreelof,dehumiditication desired. Generally, for petroleurnnaturalgas drying, the desiccant should be cooledtoabout, 120117". to 60 F. in the upper l2.'inches, andpreferably 2 inches of the bed in the drier. Preferably, this cooling should be to a temperature within the range 60 F. to 1,00 The average bedtemperature for natural gas drying should be within the range about,60.FA..to,120," E, and preferably 60 F. to 100 F. ..The temperature to which the desiccant must be heated in therevivificationzone will also vary considerably with theparticular desiccant used. Generally, however, a temperature within the range 300 F. to 500 F., and preferably 350 F. to 400 F. must be used. The space, velocity. f the Wet gas in the, drying zone should bewithin the range about 200 to 2 00Q volumes of gas measured at thedesiccantbed temperature and pressure in -the drier, per volume of desiccant bed per hour.

..As ,an example of the operating conditions of this invention, the drying of, a wet natural gas stream amounting to. 68 million standard cubicfeet per day by a process similartothat ot Figure l will be considered. The wet gas is vayailable at 900 poundsper square inch gauge and at 96f.- F. .,In a suitable desigrrto reducethe water content of. this wet gas from 54 pounds per million cubic feeLtoJ pounds 'perrnillion cubic feet by means of commercial Sovabead desiccant, the drier was 6 feetin diameter and 12 to 13 feet high, The desiccant bed in the drier was only 5 106 feet indepth. The revivifier was .3, feet in diameter and had a desiccant bed about 4 .feet dcepth,erein., The ,desiccant was circulated through the systeimata rate of about 0.8 ton per day. Of the-68 million cubic feet per day wet gas charge, 63.6 million cubic feetarepassed directly to the drier. About,Z.4,mil1ion cubic feet are use das revivifieation gas .being.heated to abouty360", F. before being supplied totherevivifier. The remaining Zrnillion cubic feet are used as lift gas. in general, the temperatures and pies sures given in conjunction with Figure 1 are representative of ,the ternperat ures and Pressures at various points in the,, syste rn under the conditions of thisexample. Hot, dry desiccant would be remoyed from the revivifier at about360 E. and cooledto about 100 F. in the upper 2-inches of the desiccantbed in the drier, v e V it, should ,be understood that it i 'ntended to cover he e n al c a e a d. .mod a ens. of t e mp es. of theinvention cliqsen herein for purposes of disclosure which do not cons t itute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

. 8 .1e. i i A continuous process for the dehu niiditica'tion at 693% 1121111131 gas which comprises: maintaining a confined revivification zoneabolve a confined drying zone, maintain ing a downwardly gravitating, substantially compact be'd oif granular desiccant within the confined drying zoiie, passing a lirs't strea'rn of wet natural gas directly into the lower secti'on of said drying zone andupwardly through said to feitcc tl r'emovaliot moisture from the gas esic ca nt and removing the dried natural gas from the uppcr scction the drying zone, removing morsturebearing desiccant from the lower section of the bed in the drying zone andjsuspending the desiccant after removal in a second strearn of wet natural gas charge, elevating said su nde'd desiccant to asepara'tion zone ih which the-sits; pended desiccant isseparat'ed from the second natural gas stream, removing the second we't n atural gas stream from the separation zo'neahd passing the second wet gas stream into the lower section of the drying zone to pass upwardly therethrough and be dried, gravi'tating 'rnois turelade'n desiccant from the lower section of the separation zone into the upper section or the revivific ation zone, pass ing the moisture-laden desiccant through the revivification zone as a. downwardly gravitating, substantially cornpiict bed,he'ating a third stream of wet natural gas charge to a temperature suitable to effect revivification of the desiccantjarid "passing said heated gas through the bed in the 'reviv ification zdne to revivify the de'siccant by stripping it'of moisture and by hea'tingthe desiccant to a suitable temperaturesubstantially 'aboi e the'ternperatu re at which the desiccant "a d sorb's moisture, removing said third wet gas stream from the upper section of the revivification zon'c'ar'id cooling said'ga's to condense the moisture picked up inthe revivitication zone therefrom, passing said'third gas stream after said cooling into the lower section of the drying zone to 'eir'ect dr'ying thereof, gravitating hot-revivifie'ddesiccant withoutsubsta ntial internrediate cooling into theup'per section of the drying zone and discharging said hot desiccant on the desiccant bed therein, maintaining the rat'e' of natural gas supply to the lower section of th'edrying zone and the'rate of circulation of tlie'desiccan; such that the ratio of the specific heatcapac 'ity of the natural "g as s'upplied to the drying Zone to the specific heat capacity'of the desiccant supplied to the drying zone is at l e a st 1101, and the hot desiccant supplied to the drying zon e'js cooled within the uppcr 12 inchescf the bed in the drying Zone to a temperature suitable for removing'rnoisture from the wet natural gas to the desired cirtent.

"References Cited in the' file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

